Red Sands on a Blue World
by ChappyJames
Summary: (LOL we really rated M) This story follows the men and women of the 13th Army UEGF 2nd Battalion 1st Company 1st Platoon during the ground war of the second martian invasion. While the Mech side of the war has been covered in some detail, there is proof that the ground war for infantry was much more bloodier and harsh. Strap in kiddos, its gonna be a tough one.
1. Ch1 Military Maxim

"Because we do not beg for freedom, we fight for it."

PROLOGUE

(Aka, a bad explanation on events you already know about)

 **This isnt the normal shill Aldnoah romance. This story follows a group of UE Army dirt eaters. Due to the lack of timelines for the series some events are made up. I have only, and will only create more of this story when drinking heavily, expect the story to reflect that. No really, the lack of timeline events means I have to constantly rewatch the anime guys, it gets old after the 8th time in.**

Every single human soul alive today remembers the events of 1999. The beginning of the first and only Interplanetary war in known human history, though be it very one sided. Heavens Fall, as it has been dubbed, was the outcome and catastrophic consequence of heavy fighting on Earth's Moon, leading to the destruction of the Hyper Gate and subsequently cracking a very large portion of Earth's only satellite. At that same time the Invasion forces of the Vers Empire touched down on Earth, completely obliterating any UE retaliation force with their superior technology. Though the Empire by all rights should have won, the fact their main base of operations had been destroyed along with their only way back home, forced them to retreat back into orbit, where they stay today in a coldish war. Earth declared it's survival a victory, despite the fact fragments of the moon continued to rain down, both the invasion and constant bombardment on moon pieces totaling a death count of nearly half of all Humans on Earth.

But all of this his common knowledge, obviously, you don't have your home planet basically destroyed just too brush the thought off. The years after Heavens Fall saw humanity attempting to rebuild and prepare for the next attack as best as possible. With the creation of Kataphrakts, the UE believed it had a card it would be able to play in the next attack, whenever it came.

The military rebuilt itself, trying hard to study off and reverse engineer anything left behind. A large portion of Humans that lived through the events of 1999 joined various branches of the UE's military. Even though all the governments of Earth had been "United", each Nation kept their own fighting force first, before giving the "extra bodies" over to total UE deployment and control.

Ch.1

"Das Armageddon Kommt"

US, Arizona Coast line, near Phoenix, July 3rd 2014

"Despite current tensions between the Ver's Empire and the United Earth Government, UE Leaders have successfully negotiated peace talks,Vers princess, Asseylum Vers Allusia, is due to land in Japan later tomorrow. In other news, it's a oddly warm day out on the new Pacific Coast, current temperature sitting at sunny 110 degrees with light wind…" The sounds from the radio trailed off as James started to fall asleep. The waves crashing against the shore, the heat, the shade, the slight breeze, it was an all too perfect time to catch some Z's that he desperately needed. But even in this day and age, peace can be hard to come by, even when your suppose to be on leave.

"Ain't no rest for the weary bitch!" a male voice yelled from a distance as a object slammed into James face, causing him to fall off his beach chair. "God fucking dammit who did that!" He yelled as he stood up, wincing as the sun blinded him, "Luke if that's you i'm gonna kick your-" he was cut off suddenly as someone tackled him from behind. James fell down as the figure that tackled him wrapped their arms around his chest tightly. As soon as he hit the ground James went into kill mode, quickly turning around and using his strength to post up and flip his attacker over onto their back, "As shit I give sir don't hit my face! It's all I got!" James blinked a couple of times, sand falling off his face, the would be attacker was one of his Squaddies, Sgt. Monika Stay.

"What the fuck! Leave me alone guys! Don't make me make that a fucking order!" James yelled as he pushed off the ground to stand, putting his hand out to help Monika up. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself off the ground, attempting to wipe the sand off her fatigues. Monika was 22, she was the same height as James but constantly told him she was taller. She joined the military when she turned 18, like nearly every NCO in his platoon. Even though she was a year younger than James she insisted she was his "Big Sister" and he had to listen to her, despite the fact he was a Lieutenant and she was a Sgt, but James enjoyed keeping everything family oriented in command.

"Hey LT! Real talk sir, know your on leave and all but we got some orders from the Captain."

James looked up and over to see black hercules, Sgt. Luke Smith. "Shit, what do they need from us Luke? And did you throw that fucking football at me?!" He pointed to a football laying in the sand next to the chair he had been sitting in. Luke got closer and grabbed James hand, initiating the traditional handshake he had trademarked for the squad. "Fuck man that thing fell out of the sky or some shit," he laughed, "But really though, Captain wants us combat ready by 1630, that's all we got from Martinez, whenever you aint in your skivvies go talk to the Captain." Luke was a hulk of a man, standing at 6'2ft and weighing in around 210lbs, Luke was without a doubt the biggest man in James Platoon. Despite his looks though, Luke was extremely kind and humble, but at that same time, not an idiot.

James sighed and rubbed his chest, "Why are mobilizing? What stupid shit do they have for us now." He moaned, "Alrighty then, Monika, Luke, go get everyone ready, fucking bag drag just to make sure they have their shit, then go to the armory at 1600 and arm up without me, God knows I won't be there on time." The two gave a sarcastic salute in response then jogged off the dunes back towards main base. James checked his watch, 1510, 'fucking hell' he thought to himself as he packed up his belongings. The walk back to his room was longer than it should have been due to the heat, it was nice and cool next to the ocean but once you got over the dunes that Arizona heat really burned the skin, didn't help that he was fairly pale. James badged into his room, tossing his beach going material off to the side. He took off the short-shorts and tank top he had been wearing and started to get dressed in his uniform, searching for a sand-tee in one of his cabinets. James made his way over to his bathroom to shave, afterwards looking himself over in the mirror, his multi-cam patterned uniform slightly faded from overuse. Once he was content with his appearance, James grabbed his equipment and made his way outside and into his car, starting his drive over to headquarters.

The Headquarters at Luke AFB still showed signs of Martian Invasion of 1999, while the rest of the base had been rebuilt, each commander since 1999 never ordered for the Headquarters to be rebuilt, as a remembrance to the lives lost that day. All that being said, that only had to do with the outside, the inside had been completely rebuilt and modernized. James had spent his fair share of time inside this building, having far too many meetings about general bullshit or the occasional "Why the fuck was your troop caught shitting in a chimney in housing." Either way James really didn't enjoy coming here, never boded well, and that feeling multiplied as he knocked on the Captain's door. "Come in," could be heard on the other side, James opened the door and quickly marched his way over to the Captain's desk, going to attention and saluting. "Sir, Lieutenant Stone reports as ordered." The Captain gave a quick salute back, "At-ease Stone, don't worry no one's in trouble today, got any guess to why you're here?" James went to parade rest and looked at the Captain, "Uh, not sure sir, by the order I'm gonna say unannounced field exercise?" The Captain shook his head, "Take a gander" he said as he pointed on a monitor near him.

The lights in the room dimmed as the monitor came on, the words 'U.E.A.F MAJCOM' appeared and disappeared as the Captain logged into his computer. "The plans i'm about to show you are classified, only specific units are being shown this shit just incase…" He paused for a second, staring blankly at his computer screen, "Incase we get attacked again." James face soured at the Captain's words, "Sir are we expecting another invasion?" There was a period of silence between the two men, "Sir?" James spoke up, "Whats going on?" The Captain waved the question off, literally, "Just look and listen dammit." The monitor became active again as the Captain clicked on emails and folders, typing in passwords to sensitive documents. Suddenly a program went active, pictures and videos started popping up, all titled different things. 'Projected civilian casualty estimate,' 'Possible tactical nuke locations,' 'Estimated number of SSBN's and their survival rating' just to name a few. "Listen up Lieutenant, MAJCOM doesn't like the fact this 'princess," he air quoted, "is touching down so soon, boys up top think a invasion force will follow right as she lands, something along the lines of her planting a flag on our dead bodies or some shit." The briefing lasted another hour or so, the Captain giving James his orders and dismissing him.

James tightened the straps on his plate carrier as he waited for the armorer to give him his weapons, then checking over the items he had already been issued, making sure his radio had full battery, double checking his magazines by pressing down on the rounds. "Here ya go sir, safe clear?" The female armor held his M4 in the window, "Safe clear" he responded as he grabbed it and clipped it onto his sling, the process repeating itself for his P226. James left the arm up area and headed over to where his platoon was, checking his watch as he walked over to them, '1623, they shouldn't be to angry' he thought to himself as he heard his Platoon Sergeant call every to attention. "Staff Sergeant Martinez! Is everyone ready to go out for a absolutely wonderful night under the beautiful Arizona sky!" James yelled out as he returned the salute to his friend. "God has surely graced our ugly asses tonight sir, but i'm sure everyone would have enjoyed dinner before this fucking." Martinez replied, he was met with scattered laughter from the Platoon. "Everyone is suited up and ready to go sir, but the real question is why are we loaded for full combat? We even had some KG-7's moving out with a whole damn armored division, and they looked loaded for bear."

With a sigh James patted Martinez on the shoulder and looked at his Platoon, "Listen up guys!" he yelled, "For those of you who are less informed in the current ongoing political shit fest that is the UE Government, that Martian Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia should be landing in Japan in uh," he checked his watch again, "In around a hour or so! Everyone and their mother in the UEG is really banking on the opening of full peace talks here soon, but MAJCOM doesn't like the idea of Martian Royalty being ground side. So, in the case she is the lead in the next invasion, we and a small number of UEAF units throughout the world are mobilizing in a quote NORMAL EXERCISE unquote manner as to not arouse suspicion! So all of us meat sticks in 2nd Battalion are ready, and the big boys of the 1st Cav 2nd Brigade Combat Team have loaned us 2 Tanker platoons with one Kataphrakt platoon."

Expressions, from every single member of his platoon, all a mixture of fear and anger. After a long tense period of silence, spoke up, "We getting ready to bring the hate sir?" James shrugged, "Always expect the worst sergeant, but just in case," he nodded towards Martinez, "Got any scripture for us today?" Without a sound, the Sergeant stepped out of formation and walked up next to James facing the platoon who had now formed a horseshoe around the two men. "Bow your head's" everyone did as they were told, even the non-religious, "Lord be with us tonight and the following days, for we faithful remember your charge, For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. John 10:17-18, Amen" the platoon repeated the Amen, "With that, everyone start loading up, Squad leaders take last minute accountability, we're obviously taking the MATV's you've already prepped."

The Squads did as they were told, James took his position in the 2nd MATV, his 'special' command vehicle. Unfortunately, the 13th saw fit to never issue 2nd battalion CROW's systems, so each MATV had a 50' on top, the exception being 4th squads, having a mk.19 with a paper plate with a smiley face on it's muzzle. The MATV's grumbled alive, some radio chatter started and ended, followed by a roll call/radio check from all vehicles, then his squad leaders talking about the directions. Sergeant Martinez was in the seat to his left, he talked back and forth with the other sl's for a while before turning to James and giving him a thumbs up. "One actual to all squads, the beatings will continue until morale improves." James unkeyed his mic, the convoy started to move out.


	2. Ch2 Hold The Dark

**Alrighty then, to uhhh the like 20 people who have "looked" at this story, and shoutout to DownTownAlpha for giving drunk me the** **motivation** **to write instead of passout on my keyboard. No really, as I stated way back when that Ill only write this story when drinking/drunk.** **Unfortunately** **this chapter took the course of 3** **different** **bingers, and I think it shows pretty bad. So if you see anything that looks TOO fucked up hmu in da dm's and ill fix it. I do hope you guys like it for what its worth though, and** **dont** **worry. For anyone wondering if my 'dirt eaters' will meet some main chars, oh they will.**

Ch.2

"And LO the darkest angel moved forward, and where others had brought mercy, he brought pain."

US, Louisiana, 3July14, Inside city limits of Baton Rouge

" _All CONUS based units. All CONUS based units, this is Mother, be advised Martian invasion underway, I say again, Martian invasion is underway. Landing castle is inbound to New Orleans ETA fifty nine minutes. Landing castle support units are currently on unknown bearing. All CONUS units are to take up defence positions immediately and are to repel invaders at all cost._

 _My god have mercy on our souls, Mother out."_

The news came down hard, in all truth not a single person had bet on the Martian princess being assassinated Earth side. But no one was surprised what came next, full engagement and invasion via landing castles. Nearly all of the members in James's squad were affected by the first martian invasion in some way, and all of them wanted revenge, but when faced with the reality of what was going on, even the oldest veteran couldn't help but be worried.

" _Landfall in 5 mike, standby to receive contacts."_ One of the Kataphrakt pilots voiced over his external speakers.

There was a quick callout over the squad comms, was making sure every was loaded and ready to engage. James had ordered all of his squads back from assisting civilians trying to evacuate 10 minutes prior. Now he found himself sitting in his MATV checking the map of fallback areas on his tablet. and had set their squads up at a choke point on a intersection that had been cleared of civilian life. In support of their area were two M1A3 Abrams along with their MATV's. 's squad was formed up around the 'temp' HQ that was James's MATV. and were formed up a block behind them boxing out the intersection there with the support of 3 M2A3 Bradley's and 2 Kataphrakt's of the "Fallen Angel" Platoon.

Most of the area they were in had been abandoned, expect for the one or two occasional civilians trying to flee the area, or even the random looters. There wasn't anything more James could do to prepare his men, everyone had been ordered to hunker down and wait for the landing castle to touchdown. They knew the casualties from the blast caused from the touchdown alone would be in the millions, but the civilians would have to wait for support efforts from someone else to arrive. Those were James's orders atleast, and he knew too well that when the fighting started he would have to help his own before even beginning to think about trying to calm down and evacuate more scared, riled up civilians.

Suddenly the door to James's MATV opened, breaking the intense stare on the tablet. "Hey LT, you good in here sir?" James looked out into the dark to see looking at him with a grim smile on her face. "Monika go find a place to fucking hide we got like two mike before that fucking flying dildo crashes down" James said in a slightly harsh manner. She scoffed and slammed the door on him. James turned his attention back to his tablet but soon after was distracted yet again by Monika opening up the right side door, hoping in, and closing it. "Fucking harden shelter right?" she said and she tapped on the metal frame. "Good enough, your squad ready?" James asked, not taking his attention away from the tablet. "You already know they are, I gave you a report five minutes ago James, lose the fucking tunnel vision will you -sir-?" At this point the James's gunner, a Private First Class Swanson, moved around, "Yall need a moment down there?" Monika slapped his leg, "Fucking keep eyes up Swanson or i'll beat that ass again." Swanson responded with a weird sexual noise. James turned to Moika, as he was about to speak the pilot of Fallen Angel 2 came over the comms, his voice unsteady. "Touchdown in 5...4...3...2..1… standby!"

The blast only equivalent to the Tsar Bomba shook the entire earth beneath and around them. Comms cut out and came back quickly. The shockwave struck the area next, windows busted and car alarms started going off. Tanks and Mechs alike shook violently as small debris smashed into them. In the distance, nearly an hour away, a ungodly mushroom cloud stood over where New Orleans once lay. There was an intense moment of disbelief for all the soldier's, none of them had seen distruction like this in a long time. As the initial shock faded, James heard his green gear, his command level radio, spit alive as Navy and Air units started to engage the landing castle. As soon as the chatter started, it ended, satcoms, DAGR, Blueforce, even his connection with UEHQ went dark, all that was working was Squad comms, and that was full of chatter.

"All stations this is 1 Actual! Give me a setrep starting with 1-1!" James shouted into his comms and he checked to make sure his gunner was still alive, "Swanson you fucking good up there!" his only response was a thumbs up as he continued to wipe dust off his face. Squads started to call in their statuses one by one, only forth squad came up with a casualty. Monika had already left the MATV and was checking on her squad. "1-4 this is 1 Actual did you report a casualty on status?!" James waited for several moments then repeated his question, "1-4 this is 1 Actual did you report a casualty on status?" "1 Actual this is 1-4, sir be advised we have one KIA." They hadn't even engaged the martians and someone was already dead. "Fuck!" James said under his breath as started to run over to position.

By the time James arrived to the building where both Smith's and Young's squad were set up, two soldiers were already carrying out a litter with what appeared to be a body with a cover on top of it. James waved the two men down before they could offload the body at the designated CCP, "Specialist, who uh...who is it." James asked, placing one of his hands next to the body. The male in the front spoke up, "It was corporal Diaz sir, he.. a piece of fucking roofing sliced his throat, nothing we could do." There was a long, uncomfortable pause between the three men. James hadn't known Diaz for long, in fact he was a fresh face to the platoon, just came in from Turkey. But within the month and some change he had been with them, Diaz made a name for himself as one of the most well liked people in the Platoon.

Once again James's comms snapped him back to reality. But it wasn't his black set that was going off. His green gear, the radio that let him talk on a command level, was alive again, this time with calls for help and fallback orders. The Specialist in charge of the litter heard everything and was about to speak before James cut him off, "Get Diaz to the CCP, then get back to your fucking post, shits about to get bad by the sound of it." Then, as if on cue, as if it was a badly written story being re-written by a worst writer, a bright and long red beam filled the sky above them, followed by several explosions.

 _ **WRITING STYLE CHANGE INBOUND, SORRY GUYS.**_

" _One actual this is Angel lead, we have an unkown martian mech in the fight, my guys are gonna be moving up to assist, how copy?"_

James keyed his mic as the kataphracs assigned to his area started to speed off towrads the fight.

"Good copy Angel, leave some from the rest of us."

" _No promises One."_

With the kataphracs gone, James made his way into the building where Young and Smith were set up. Traveling up two flights of stairs to get there, only stopping to notice the large amount of items left behind by the civilians that were lucky enough to escape.

Once he reached the second floor, James made his way over to the two squad leaders.

Smith was attempting to comfort a female Private, a member of his squad who was leaning against a wall, quietly sobbing.

Young saw her platoon leader and quickly jogged over to him, her rifle bouncing on her plate carrier as she did so.

"Sir, about that situation over there.." Young pointed to Smith and the Private.

"She was standing in the open when that blast went off, Diaz pushed her the fuck out of the way and took that hit."

James gave her a quick nod, "Rog, we can grief later, make sure your people are fucking ready to engage or fallback, shits kicking off out there.

Another series of bright red beams filled the sky, followed by more explosions. Judging by the net traffic James assumed the Air support was getting literally vaporized.

" _Break break break, all units this is Colonel Kirkland, standby for fallback orders."_

James green gear was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, something he instantly regret.

" _All units this is Colonel Kirkland callsign Vader. Be advised anyone South of line 210 is now considered KIA, all units are ordered to fallback to-"_

James radio cut out as the air in the area instantly became violently hot. One of the red beams that had been shooting towards the sky suddenly pierced through the street the two Abrams had been sitting in, cooking them off before nearly deleting their entire hulls. Everyone inside the building was in a state of shock, seeing some of the most advanced armored units in the history of man be destroyed in the blink of an eye did that.

"Out! Everyone out now! We are getting the hell out of here!" James yelled, shaking a still dazed .

"1 Actual this is 1-1! We have casualties!"

As everyone inside the building started to follow his orders, another beam blasted into it, exactly two rooms over from where James had been standing. The Beam's heat evaperated some of the soldier's trying to leave, anyone caught inside it's direct path simply stopped existing. Next came it's concussive wave, which blasted James and several others into the wall. It all happened way to fast for a person comprehend. One second James was pulling Young towards him, the next second he was nearly stuck in a wall, his left arm burned. James ears were ringing, his vision was blurry. He lifted up his burnt arm and looked it over, he noticed he was holding something in his hand. It was part of Young's gear, specifically one of her shoulder straps. Then, as quickly as it started. Everything went to black.

James awoke to a equally badly burned firemen carrying him into his MATV.

"St..stop...i'm good Smith..let me down…" James said as he patted him on the chest.

Smith looked at James, a little startled. "Fucking shit sir I thought you died too."

Carefully, Smith helped James back on his feet, letting him lean of the armored truck. "Sir we need to get out of here now."

The burn pains on James arm were non existent, most likely due to the adrenaline that had just hit him."

"Get in, get the fuck out of here, last known fallback point was Delta 18, remember the brief?"

Smith nodded, "Yeah, it's uh, like 40mike north of here right Like near Ethel?"

"Give or take yeah, get your squad ready to fucking bolt… and Luke… Jessica's dead isn't she?"

There was a pause between the two men for a moment, members from James platoon ran back into their MATV's and readied themselves.

"Ya James, yeah she's gone, most of my squad and nearly all of hers too."

James tapped Smith in the chest, "we'll make the bastards pay."

Smith nodded and pulled himself into his vehicle leaving James to mop up the rest of his units.

"1 Actual to 1-1, 2 and 3, incase you already haven't figured it out we are LEAVING, get back to your vics and standby to rollout."

The three squads all responded and confirmed. James made his way back to his MATV, passing by a burnout Bradley. This wasn't good, his platoon was out of the fight, he had lost way to many people. How did the martians have this sort of firepower? Nothing on this level had ever been reported, if anything Earth was suppose to be years ahead of the bastards in military tech. For fucks sake the only thing the Martians had on them was the damned alien landing castles. How could they mount a resistance to this invasion if this was their enemy? It didn't matter, none of it mattered. What mattered now was getting the rest of his men the hell out of this slaughter.

" _Any units this is Warrent Officer Warner, callsign Angel 3. My kataphrakt is down, ejection fucked my legs. Current grid is 0191927810. I got a Martian dropship pushing on me, if anyone is out there please god help me."_

James had just reached his vic when the call came through. Ignoring his gunners calls, he pulled out a grid-map that was stuffed into a random bag and started searching for the specific coordinates he had heard over the net.

"1 Actual to all units, fallback as necessary, 1-1 is in charge now, whoever had that Mk.19 needs to form up on me now, got a SAR request, leave no man behind. 1 out."

James pulled himself into the MATV and took his seat, slapping his gunner and driver on the shoulder and leg respectfully. "You boys ready to save someone?" he asked, a odd smile on his face. Once again his gunner gave him a thumbs up, his driver just shook his head and scuffed, "No man left behind eh?" James was about to key his mic and ask where the Mk.19 was when both the backdoors on his MATV opened. He turned to see Stay and her squads medic, hop in and close their doors.

"Stay, way the fuck aren't with your squad, your medics nice but the fuck?" James asked, fairly annoyed.

"I already had them push out with Martinez and Rodriguez _sir_ , so with all due respect, fuck off."

This wasn't the time to blow the fuck up on his old friend. But James made a mental note to deal with that attitude later.

"Scratch the attitude _Sargent,_ it's been a shit day for all of us."

James turned back front went the MATV with the Mk.19 on top rolled up beside him.

"Lt it's Smith, got that HEDP loaded, ready for that SAR shit sir."

"Good shit Smith, roll out on me, stay frosty." James said before switching to his green gear.

"Angel 3, Angel 3, this is 1-1 Actual, you still alive out there?"

" _Oh thank god, yeah, yeah i'm still good! I'm pinned down in a building, I got Martian infantry trying to grab me. That dropship doesn't have weapons it looks like, you copy?"_

"I copy Angel, be ready for egress, we're inroute, unknown timeframe."

" _Right..right..easy as not dying...ok…"_

James hadn't notice it the entire time, but it finally hit him that the voice coming through the radio was feminine, but also sounded scared as hell. It was understandable though, the enemy had just basically kintecticly striked one of the only major US cities left, so whatever rules of war existed in the past didn't anymore. POW's captured by the martians would probably be killed, or tortured, or at worst, raped, these were all hypotheticals though. The journey to Angel 3's position was quiet, the gunners being only ones making noise as they swiveled their turrets to cover roads and roofs. Not even James green gear was picking up chatter anymore. Even the damned lasers that and hit his position earlier had died down.

The silence didn't last for long though, after three and a half minutes of traversing blown out buildings and destroyed cars the SAR team came into contact. James gunner didn't even notice the overtly large aircraft hovering around 150 meters in front of them until the Mk.19 on Smiths MATV opened up. The martian aircraft, what was assumed to be the dropship. Was quite literally caught with its pants down. Large bay doors had opened on its rear, leaving what looked like a total of two platoons of Martian infantry completely unprotected. "FUCKING KILL THEM ALL!" Someone screamed into their comms. James watched in a state of awe and primordial happiness as the soldier's inside the aircraft were shredded by the combined fire of a 50' and 40mm. Whatever advancements the martians had on the UE Forces didn't matter at that point, as the HEDP exploded inside the aircraft, secondary explosions occurred outside on it's wings, causing it to list forward and plow into a moderate sized apartment complex, soon after it exploded completely.

Once that primary threat had been dealt with, James, Monika, her medic Keenan, two members of squad hopped out of their MATV's and started to secure the area. The Mk.19 gunner kept his weapon down range towards where the dropship had been. The 50' was scanning rooftops and windows to the 9 o'clock. James pushed his body into a piece of rubble and kept his M4 pointed towards another building, soon after he keyed his mic, "Angel 3, this is 1-1 Actual, given area is secure, status?" No one came back over. Just as James was about to try and contact Angel 3 again, one of 's men, , yelled out. "Fucking movement right to our 5!" The two men next to him quickly turned their guns onto a blue sedan that's door opened. "F-fucking hold fire! Friendly!"

"Warrant Officer Warner! I'm Angel-3! Don't fucking shoot!" The Female kataphrakt pilot tried her best to show her hands as she slid out of the car and grunted in pain when she hit the ground. Benson lowered his weapon and ran up to the warrant officer. "Lt we need that fucking medic sir!" He yelled back to the rest of the dismounts. Keenan had already made his way over there by the time James had turned around. Once he did get to the downed Pilot, Keenan was injecting her with morphine. "Sir her legs are kinda fucked, not completely broke but fucked all together, not to mention the other problems she has going on, i'll spare you the medical mumbojumbo." James got down on a knee and started to look her over, not like he would catch anything the medic already didn't though, "Righto, can we just carry her back to our vic and you help out from there?" the medic shrugged, "Might as well, she's out cold now, best get outta here before more shit comes.

As quickly and carefully as they could, Keenan and James carried the wounded pilot back to their MATV, having Monika and Benson help pull her in as best as possible. As soon as the wounded personnel was secure, James ordered everyone to mount back up. Once again they found themselves navigating the runes of Baton Rouge inroute to the last known designated fallback point. WO Warner was moaning off and on in the back of the MATV as Keenan fixed her up as best as he could. "Atleast we know we can kill some of the fucking bastards now." James said to no one in particular. He was met with several affirming grunts. In all reality, if this first engagement was what the Martians brought to the table every fight, he was pretty sure humanity didn't stand a chance unless they started to fight _extremely_ dirty, hell even nukes would have to become an option soon. The rest of the ride to the fallback point was uneventful and silent, but it wouldn't be long before the surviving members of 1st Platoon learned that the event was worldwide, and that they and lost even more of their own.


	3. Ch3 Unprecedented Losses

(((Sorry about the nearly year long wait just for this trash, work is hell. This really isnt a chapter I put effort into as youll see, most of it was just a paragraph every two months or so and im pushing it off with double checking or editing things at the moment so sorry for that guys.)))

Ch.3 Unprecedented Loss

\--

"Life is cruel. Becoming, existing, passing away, all of that is killing. What gets born must die."

\--

US, Louisiana, 13July14, Homochitto National Forest.

"Private First Class Ino Charlie, Captain Raymond Smith, Chief Warrant Officer Rebecca Jones, Specialist Smart Martinez, Petty Officer First Class Mark Sanchez..."

The Chaplin, a Lieutenant Chao, continued reading off a list of the KIA from Baton Rouge.

"Sgt. Jessica Young, Specialist Jason Benson, Major Jarred Warner, Sgt. Luke Smith, Sgt. Daniel Rodriguez, Private First Class Daniel Diaz

The names of James men being called out amongst those dead hurt more than the piece of shrapnel that was in his back. The men and women who he was tasked with, who he made friends of, were dead.

During the retreat, the Martian kataphrakt now dubbed Solis started engaging the surviving MATVs of his platoon along with several other units that had formed up a convoy. It was a pure and simple slaughter, almost nothing made it out of there alive, the M1s in the convoy were melted by the laser that was shot off by the Kataphrick, the vehicles around them melted just from the radiating heat. But that was just the start. After the ((())) engaged the convoy from long range, Martian Air assets pushed hard on the remaining survivors, and without any armor or anti air capabilities, that slaughter continued even more. Eventually, after a 2 hour losing firefight, the remnants of Louisiana UEGF assets pushed into friendly held territory where the Martian Air was quickly taken out.

James was pulled out of his trance by a tug on his shoulder, he turned to see random soldier, "Hey Lt," he spoke softly, not wanting to interrupt the Chaplains service, "Captain Reed needs you in the COC, like now, word is we were able to get in contact with UECC and some SAC guys." There was a brief moment of awkward silence as the chaplin continued reading off the list of names, "Uh, you good sir?" The soldier tilt his head slightly, "I mean fuck bro not really," James let out quietly with a sigh, "Guess none of us are right now though eh?" He turned around and tapped the solder on the back before heading off towards the COC.

The makeshift Fire base had been established three days after the Martian landfall. Made up entirely of units that sustained heavy casualties, the current population sat around 168 men and women, comprised from several completely different units. The highest ranking officer was a pencil pusher Captain named Hans Reed, 1st Lt Yobestal Hiens, then c last two officers in the defacto unit, James and a 2nd Lt Asia Avert. Hiens was the commander of the armoured column that fought in Baton Rouge and fell back with James unit. Avert was some INTEL chick who worked with SOF guys, their mission was to "Collect useful intelligence on the Enemy." Or in realistic terms, use drones to watch possible HVTs then drop cars from high altitude on them. Along with the 4 officers, the rest of the unit was composed of enlisted members of various purpose. Hiens and James had pulled 68 in total out of their situation, Avert had a team of 10 high quality shooters, Reed sat up station with the last 81 of the FB's count, a combination of Medics, Maintainers, and group of 30 FNGs that had just completed Basic.

Making his way through the tent flap to the COC, James announced himself, "Cap'n Reed its Stone, heard we got some orders?" As his eyes adjusted to the redlight inside, he saw the Captain wave him over to a table with large US map covering its surface, around the table stood the rest of the officer corp "Lieutenant Stone, words come down from UESC, the BDA of our casualties and civilian loss of life is extreme." Reed stopped talking for a moment as he started to place unit markers on the map, "As it stands, and this comes from the top, we are to cease any and all attempts at rescuing civilians. Every surviving UE military member left in existence in the US new mission is to now wage guerrilla warfare against those Martian bastards." Reed again took a pause to maneuver the unit markers, "We are undermanned, low on fuel, ammo and other essentials, any hope for reinforcements is impossible at the current moment in time due to the fact we are in Solis's new AOR. Evacuation of this area was thrown out by UESC, only reason being we are one of the 3 only 'combat capable' units inside the entire fucking Southeastern United States. But everything I say is just gonna make all of this seem worse, Lieutenant Avert please tell everyone our current mission plan."

Avert simply nodded her head in acknowledgment towards the Captain before making eye contact with James, "You heard it from the Cap' gents, Guerrilla Warfare from here on out, means SMALL teams taking out LARGE forces, and the only person besides me and my team slightly trained in that field that is Lieutenant Stone and a couple of his of own," She paused to pass everyone a list of radio frequencies and callsigns. "One of the other 'combat capable' units out down here is the 212th Artillery Division, bunch of 81mm mortars and couple of 105s survived with their crews and are holed up 'round the state, so i'm assuming none of you are fucking retarded and can call in a nineline for Arty, which is pretty obvious on how your gonna use those assets too. Now the other unit stuck down here is a couple of bot jockeys from "Fallen Angel" Platoon, but I doubt those poor bastards will last for long, they're all stuck in the ruins of New Orleans trying to do stuff, which is more than likely not going well."

Hearing that some of the Fallen Angel guys had some surviving members surprised James a bit, he assumed they all died when his post was hit.

"Other to note than that, all LR comms are down, SATLINK and the UWIC were taken out along with most cell towers and nearly all important infrastructure. Hints the reason for those rotating frequencies, which mind you will change every three days at 1800 so have whoever is carrying the donkey dicks make sure they're listening for the changes for the next three days, Cap you got anything else to brief on?"

Captain Reed nodded and began flipping through a white folder before speaking, "Civilian casualties are high, extremely high, like not even a worthwhile estimate but that's due in part to the fact we are at fucking end all be all war. Commands guess for CONUS are atleast a 65% DIM count, again that's not an official number but let's just assume the worst since we can."

"Sir any word on Naval Forces in the Gulf or Pacific Coast?" Hiens spoke up, "Last call was we had a Carrier group in the gulf engaging the landing castle, and uh, heard word of a Virgina or two with seals at the ready."

"The Ford and her subsequent destroyer escort were all lost in the initial blast, haven't heard anything from the West US side but it seems a Japanese boat has been giving to those red fucks a hard time, and as for the submarines? Nothing." The Captain tossed Hien another folder and sighed, "Lieutenant those are the last knowns for some abandoned but still useable armor within a 25 mile radius, gonna need you and anyother tanker to work some magic on them if we can bring them back." Hien's nodded silently as he opened the folder and browsed through it's contents.

"Captain anyword on how the rest of the world is fairing?" James asked as he watched Hien look over paperwork, "It's not good anywhere Stone, before almost everything went black Japan got hit hard, real hard. Nearly all of Europe is dark, Russia is doing, well Russian things, it's been weird winter wise up there since the moon cracked, and we all know that invading Russia in winter doesnt workout well for anyone. Middle East is dark, along with Africa. South America might be faring better than most but the landing castle hadn't even touched down when I got cut off." The Captain finished and the room was left in silence, disregarding the noise of workout and the dull hum of electronics in the COC.

"But let's not get to depressed gentlemen," Lieutenant Avert spoke up, "Just cause the reds have fancy lasers and Alien technology doesn't mean they will beat us, not like they even can beat us." She took a breath before continuing, "We are better trained than any Martian grunt in existence, the FNG's outside are guaranteed better killers than a 6 year Martian Vet, some of you had the luck of shooting some of those bastards down and saw how unorganized and weakwilled they are. One of my teams took out a Officer and watched as a damn whole company of the rats scattered in the wind. But besides that, they are attempting to take over an ENTIRE planet, something that has never been attempted before. We know the jump point on the moons destroyed, which means they have to burn from Mars to Earth using ships if they want reinforcements or resupply, and that takes a long time. Believe me when I say we are far more prepared than them, we are ready to fight, we want to kill, we will survive, we will win, adopting the motto of a past team I handled, KTF!"

Captain Reed grinned as he raised an eyebrow, "Nice speech Avert, but what the hell does KTF mean?" The lieutenant gave him a devilish grin, "Means Kill Them First sir, KTF for short." Reed chuckled for a moment, "With that we have our knew calling card, I expect to be hearing that one everyone understand?" the room sounded off with various "Understood" and "Yes Sir." James thought back to the past for a moment, for some reason he was pretty sure he heard KTF being used in the past, but it didn't matter if they stole it, it was for a noble cause right? Either way he was gonna make sure he made good on it, soon it would be time for a counterattack of some sorts, he was ready to sort some reds out for the men he lost, as the Captain dismissed all the officers in the tent James whispered to himself, "Kill Them First."


	4. Ch4 Sleeping Giants

Ch.4 Sleeping Giants

—-

"We expected the Terran's to surrender days after the invasion, we had no understanding of the violence they were capable of; our arrogance cost so many lives. The fear that spread throughout our ranks from the clandestine actions of the United Forces of Earth was something we could never have accounted for." - Retired Vers General Marcus Allirus Optus excerpt from "The Planetary War" (2019)

—

US, Outside ruins of Beaumont Texas, 21Nov14, 0940 Zulu

War Crimes, they existed for a world and peoples who thought War should be conducted in a civil manner. Never once in anyone's life did the thought of total global warfare against a single target bounce off the minds of those who set the laws are Father's followed. Not once in the history of man have the nations of Earth been brought so closely to total annihilation than the months past.

War Crime is a cowards word. 

"Line ready!" A voice called out, the sounds of charging handles slamming rounds home and muffled cries of captives radiated in James head. A Vers Marine fell down and started convulsing, he would choke on his on spittle. "Fire!" All at once 40 rifles fired in unison, followed by bodies thudding against the ground and an ever growing normal ring in James ears. "What about this one?" A Soldier called out, James looked at the man and tried to place a name to his face, he couldn't, his teams had been swapped out to many times. "Don't waste the ammo, use a knife Corporal." James told the soldier. "Why have a firing line in the first place..." a member said quietly, "Roger that Cap," The Corporal said without emotion as he unsheathed his bayonet and stabbed into the convulsing Vers Marines throat. Blood squirted onto the ground as the man jerked even more violently, then slowed until he expired. 

The last month had been harsh on all UEGF forces, actuate BDA's and casualty information had trickled down the modified radio grape vine the comms personnel were able to set up. Hundreds of millions, if not billions dead. Nearly every single United Earth asset had been destroyed save for those secret enough to hide from the Vers. UE Command, or atleast UEEUROCOM had surrendered to the invading forces and now Vers propaganda was being played on all old UE Frequency's. Atleast that was the give away news, the real picture was far from the Vers idea of winning. What was left of UE Euro Command surrendered, but before throwing in the towel, every unit in theater had been ordered to go dark and conduct Guerrilla Warfare, the exact words being "Soak the ground in Martian blood." 

And so the Euros did. Members belonging to the SAS, KSK, MOE, Special Brigade, NORSOF and countless others struck the Martians everywhere and anywhere they could. Reports came in of a nameless Scandinavian group using "Viking Like Weapons and Tactics" to bring down a rookie Kataphrakt pilot and kill its entourage of marines, intel suggested over 500 dead Reds. 

While the civilian resistance assisted by UFE Forces continued to fight and prolong any Vers attempts at complete control, capitulation did exist throughout the world. Nations, cities, and towns all surrendered in the face of the mighty Vers Empire. Who could blame them though? Small arms and armor could only do so much against technology that allowed it uses to literally control gravity and even the elements themselves. The Human population of Earth had been totally decimated when the Landing Castles had touched down, alongside the initial loss of life followed economic collapse of the minor and major powers, then the famine started. Morale of UFE troops was the lowest it had been since the world unified, people fighting the Vers out in the wilds were starving, who wouldn't want to surrender to their new overlords? 

"Captain Stone you good?" Major Homer ask from behind James. 

"I'm fine Sir, just waiting for us to move out." James replied as he nudged Homer with his elbow, "Speaking of which, what's the status of the Alabama? We still on track with nuking New Orleans?" 

"Anyone find it fucking funny that the Alabama is nuking Louisiana? Just me? Fuck, no I haven't heard shit from the Navy guys James." Homer said as he let out a sigh, "We have like a three hour window left before the Tridents launch off, but the Louisiana has been dark for a fucking week so we arnt even sure if the boomer is floating anymore." 

Submarines were used EMCON though, and the SSBNs were one of the best things in the world at doing it as well, but the mission at hand had called for a 24hr followed by a one hour launch notice, neither of which had been transmitted by the Alabama. It was anyone's guess as to what happened to the Boomer but the lack of Satellites, Communication, and even Air assets delayed the UFE's ability to find out. 

"Well we secured the telemetry spot for Guidance, but I'm pretty sure nukes don't work like that, atleast not the ones I remember, didn't they all have set Guidance?" Homer asked . 

James shrugged, "Word I heard was some tomahawks had been modified, even fucking heard the Russian gave us their fucking old ass nuclear Torpedoes and we retrofitted them. I literally have no clue anymore." 

"Well" Homer said as he pointed behind him, "This Vers Radio tower thing we just captured is suppose the jam everything and anything we want within like, three thousand fucking miles or some crazy shit. 

The Major was right for the most part. The team of 25 men, including James and Homer, had been tasked with assaulting and capturing a Martian communications facility. UFE Code breakers and intel nerds had found a way to break into the Vers Military Freqs, thus allowing us to Jam all communications and even 'theoretically' jamming Vers Kataphrakt radar. 

The two officers were quiet for several minutes as the rest of their team went about the process of conducting dead body checks, securing the small remote building, and setting up a perimeter. Major Fence Homer was 32 and was a Marine with a decent amount of Combat Experience from his time in Force Recon. The rest of the team was a hodgepodge of American Army and Marine special forces, with the exception of a single Japanese JTAC who was more of a code breaker at this point. Homer had selected James as his second right after James had been field promoted to Captain in August. Something about being "just fucked up enough to be good." Was all Homer had told him, though there was far more to it, probably.

"See that ISR shit from the Japs?" James asked, breaking the silence. "The uh, the one of them fucking smoking some civilians trying to farm rice or some shit?" 

"Why the fuck do you think I have my...OUR men kill the ones who surrender? Yeah sure it's totally the fact we don't have the resources to house POWs but, it's definitely cause those technologically advanced fucks are slaughtering civis wholesale, then telling selling them propaganda about this and that, fuck this War." 

"Fuck this war indeed" James concurred with a nod as a Sergeant First Class Louise approached them. 

Louise gave off a quick salute to the Major and lowered it when Homer returned the gesture, "Major we are all set up on our end. Still got some boys placing IEDs around that main road east down hill but that is just extra stuff. Ise is inside with a couple of others monitoring Martian comms and is reading the special secret they've been working on." He paused as he took at a small, crudely drawn map out of a pouch in his plate carrier, "these are the current DFPs and FOFs for our dug in guys, we got a good map inside that will have more details whenever you wanna get out of this weather." 

"Fucking outstanding Louise, let's go ahead and dig in more while we can to wait out the storm" Homer told the SFC, "Let's get out of the cold Captain." 

James has almost totally ignored the Weather he was currently standing in. The world had entered a sub Nuclear Winter. Even Texas was in a current low of 15'f and a heavy snowfall. Projections stated this would last throughout the year and into the Summer before everything started to normalize again. 

James was staring into the night sky, just the smallest hints of dawn starting to creep over the horizon. Snow fell on his face and bled through the face wrap he had been wearing, the snow and windchill, along with the sleet that had been going hard until two hours ago, hit James all at once and made him shiver. 

"Fucking Christ Stone don't go brain dead on me now I still need you sorta." Homer said as he slapped James in the chest, bringing him back to reality. 

James shook his head, attempting to force his body to ignore the cold for awhile longer. "My bad Sir," he looked at Louise, "Sergeant the building got heating?" he said as he nodded over in its general direction. 

"Fucking Vers have the same room temperature as us it seems, so it's warmer in there than out here sir." Louise replied.

"Let's get the fuck in there then" Major Homer said, pushing the two towards the building, "Almost lost my fucking foot in the Arctic not gonna lose it here.

— 

65k feet above the Cuba, 21Nov14, 1000 Zulu 

A modified U-2 spy plane, call-sign "Skunk" flew high in the Earths Atmosphere, "Uh fuck" LTCol 'Pops' said to himself. 

"Skunk we still need that confirmation" the radio crackled in his headset. 

"Vader, be advised I'm still searching, but what I got doesn't look so good" Pops said back as he viewed a monitor in front of him. His 'Space Suit' made movement a bit hard for the pilot, so moving from flight controls to the hastily installed tablet took a moment. The tablet showed a real time view of the ocean below. The Q Sensor array in the nose of the plane was rigged up to the tablet and transmitted all the sensitive data. 

"Vader, skunk," Pops keyd, "Be advised Visual on possible location of the Alabama, sensors showing high radiation levels and I'm picking up mixed messages from a possible distress buoy." 

"Skunk we have received no hails on ENET, request continued flyover until hard conformation." 

Pops sighed, the Gulf of Mexico was a big place and currently full of shipwrecks both military and civilian. Every second he stayed in the air increased the chance a Vers satellite picking him up and a fighter intercepting him. Air assets were hard to come by now, so much so as a single stealth plane having the same value as the SSBN it was searching for. 

"Copy, could be looking at the wreckage of another boomer, know we lost most of them." Pops said as he adjusted his flight instruments to continue his current course.

— 

850ft below the layer 5knts silent running, Gulf of Mexico, 21Nov14, 1020 Zulu 

The UFE Alabama was being hunted and it's deadline was approaching. It's Target was several new Knight Kataphrakts that we're scheduled to undergo maintenance near a Landing Castle in New Orleans. 

"Sonar reports multiple surface contacts still overhead on passive." The XO reported to the CO. 

"Maintain silent running, tubes one and three flooded correct?" The CO whispered back, "Aye sir, tubes flooded and readied. We still need to be above 200 feet to launch sadly." The XO replied. 

The CO, Captain Lucas Winters, rubbed his face. His deadline was approaching for the strike, it didn't have to go through if the stakes were overwhelmingly against their favor. The fact his sub had been hunted for the past week wasn't helping him at all, "Atleast the reds don't have any worth a shit sonar," The XO said as he stepped away for a moment to relay information to the rest of the ship. 

Winters started blankly into the CIC, his men went about their duties exceptionally well, he would have been proud to have them on his first command when the only reds he worried about were the Russians. But now was a different time with a different enemy. The new enemy was the Vers Empire, one that was extremely technologically advanced, but unlike the Russians he once readied himself for war with; his new foe was useless at naval warfare. 

"Helm, XO, set depth two zero zero feet maintain five knots steady on the plains." Winters whispered to his helmsman, "Aye sir set depth two zero zero feet maintain five knots aye." The Helmsman replied back confirming his orders.

— 

65k feet above the Cuba, 21Nov14, 1025 Zulu 

Pops eyes squinted as red warning signs pinged across his Tablet. He had been flying west the past 10 minutes and his eyes had just acclimated to the darker side of Earth. 

With a tap of his gloved finger the warnings went away, his heart skipped a beat for a moment. 

"Vader, Skunk, confirmed launch 564 miles south south east of New Orleans, the Alabama is active." 

"Skunk good copy we are dispersing information to ground teams now." 

"Vader, Skunk, be advised multiple Vers aircraft strafing the launch area, 'Bama should be safe if she dives deep though." 

There was a moment of silence, Pops didn't expect an answer though, he was mostly talking to himself. 

"Skunk SIGNET confirms no known depth charges or water vehicles in Vers arsenal, if the Alabama clears 400 feet she should be free for awhile."

For the first time since the invasion, Pops smiled.

— 

US, Outside ruins of Beaumont Texas, 21Nov14, 1028Zulu 

"Fucking so how are they doing it? Modified Tridents? Tomahawks? Something else?" 

"No idea bro but whatever it was it's fucking sent" 

"Fucking reds won't see it coming, Ise you sure that shits working?" 

The TOC went from a quiet warm shot out radio communications room to an uncomfortably hot room with no air flow within seconds after Homers team received information on the Alabama's launch. Ise, the Japanese JTAC who had been selected to activate the jamming equipment, flipped his switches as soon as they had been given the green light. Whatever concoction had been created was working because any Vers communication that was trying to be sent was going nowhere. Unfortunately for the UFE Team inside the building, the equipment and whatever it was doing turned the servers and hardware into small heaters. It was a going bet what would happen first, the Nukes hitting New Orleans or the building turning into a fire bomb. James was also fairly sure whatever was happening was going to sterilize them all, or atleast let them only have girls, if they ever made it that far. 

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Major Homer cried, annoyed, "we've opened up every fucking door and window in this fucking building and it's still hotter than fucking shit fuck! Sweating my cock off in this-" 

He was cut off by Ise, "Sir by my estimations the weapons payload should be delivered before the heat destroys this equipment. I recommend we leave hastily, I've gathered the necessary data for command to use so that we may-" 

This time Ise was cut off by the Major, "Fucking that all I needed to hear Lieutenant!" Homer wiped some sweat off of his brow, "Captain! Round up the troops we ar G!" 

"Rog sir!" James yelled out, he slapped Louise on the back, "Sarnt grab that old EOD guy and set up some dets on like a timer of your choice, sub one hour yeah? I'll go get the boys ready." Louise nodded in silent confirmation, he had probably already wanted to do that. 

James sent orders to fallback and reform at the building, a question was brought up about the IEDs and other anti personal and armor mines left around the area. "Leave them for the reds, once this places goes God knows they will send someone to check it out."

—

US, Louisiana, New Orleans, 21Nov14, 1032Zulu 

Octavia Luna laid in the hand of her Kataphrakt. She was going to spend the day relaxing for once, the harsh training her mentor made her go though would be on hold until her machine was optimized to sortie against the Terran's with her lord, Count Selkinas. Despite her hatred for her enemy, her father had taught her to study and learn what you can from them. So she did in a form she enjoyed, reading, everyday she devoted atleast three hours or more going over some Terran book of War. Part of her was disgusted to see she came from such people, but another part was afraid.

"Why haven't we won?" She whispered to herself as she flipped through a memoir of an old Terran Admiral named Isoroku Yamamoto. "We should have wiped them clean from this world months ago yet they still live, how?" She continued, "We are stronger, have superior intelligence, our weapons destructive potential far outweighs all of the weapons they hold." 

She was broken out of her trance by her twin brother, Cadius. "Octavia I've told you to stop reading those filthy books, your brain will turn to mush this I know." Octavia looked up to see her brother standing above her, either she was deaf or he had been practicing his stealthily movements. "We should know our enemy brother, remember what father sai-" Cadius snapped, he kicked the book out of his sisters hand and sent it flying, "Father was a traitor to our Empire, we only need to listen to Count Selkinas now!" 

Octavia was caught off guard by her brothers actions, so much so she flinched when he kicked the book out of her hands. A moment of silence passed between the two, "Do not speak ill of him brother please." 

The past several days had been like this, Cadius would find Octavia and berate her on whatever he could. She was unsure why, he had always disliked their father for what he did but this was completely uncalled for, atleast she thought that. The two had been moved out of the landing castle to a new maintenance facility for their machines. Count Selkinas stated it was for 'quick field test' and several other things Octavia had forgotten, but I'd made sense to her, maybe her brother thought something differently. 

An alert alarm sounded throughout the facility. In the distance the landing castle began to spew missiles and belch flak fire into the air at an alarming rate. Marines stationed around the large hanger seemed to panic. Octavia had noticed the communications for everyone had not been working the past several minutes, there was word of a Solar flare happening soon but she was sure it wasn't today. 

"My lord and lady please!" A Marine Captain called up to the two, his name long lost as Octavia didn't have time to meet all the lesser members of the Empire. "What do you want!" Cadius yelled at the man, "What is happening!" The Captains face was pale and somehow drenched with sweat despite the cold temperatures, "Please we must go to the Bunker at once!" Cadius laughed at the man, "For what Coward?" Nothing can harm us here, it's probably some last stand from the Terran's! Let them come!" 

Something pained inside of Octavia, deep inside her brain a primal sensor went off, a will to live, something that wrought death was coming she could feel it. "Brother we need to go." She said quietly as she slipped off of her Kataphrakts hand and onto the ground. "This was please!" The Captain practically cried as he ran for a hardened shelter, Octavia followed after him quickly. "Brother!" She yelled you Cadius who was too busy staring into the weapons fire being shot into the sky by the landing castle, in the moments the Captain has come to them smaller weapons and anti air vehicles started to fire upwards as well. 

"Brother now!" Was the last thing Octavia said to him as she was jerked into the bunker. A blast door started to seal itself, "Wha! Wait he's still out-" her words were cut short by a blinding light. The bunker was lined up directly with an outside view of the hanger and the distance landing castle. A searing white light blinded her one eye that saw it though the gap of the doors before they closed, her skin felt like it was melting. The Captain that had pulled her back started to collapse from screaming, the smell of burnt flesh started to tingle her noise as the first shockwave hit. Nothing could compare to what she felt, a billion atmospheric reentries were nothing compared to this. Within the span of five seconds, she felt three shockwaves pound through her body even though the bunker. She began to blackout, the pain from her blind eye and burnt flesh subsiding as she lost all normal bodily functions. A piece of rubble from the roof above fell and smacked her head, she could feel the warm blood pouring down the side of her face that wasn't burnt, it hurt but she couldn't scream. 

The seconds felt endless, she knew she was being pulled back deeper into the bunker by someone but she didn't have the strength to look behind her. "How long had it been?" She thought,she could still feel the impacts of whatever was attacking them. Her body continued to fade into unconsciousness, was she going to die? She didn't want to die, she had never killed anyone before, is that what it felt like to die? What about her brother? Where was he? The adrenaline spiked into her bloodstream, "I don't want to die.." she said quietly as tears began to roll down her face. The dragging continued with the shockwaves it was hard to speak but she kept trying to tell whoever was pulling her to stop, they didn't. As the moments of hell continued on the outside Octavia Luna remembered something, something she had just read. "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." The words of that Terran Admiral, was this what he meant? If it was she knew then and there, as her skin peeled off and blood poured down her head, that the Vers would not win this war.

—

In Advance everyone in sorry for the lack of posting as well as the delivery of the chapter, I know it's not an action oriented one or deep in following the MC and his "gang." Due to the lack of general Aldnoah Lore, and from this point on, ill twist events that are in blank spaces to make them fun and something easier to write about. The timeline that has fucked me for so long will no longer be a problem. 

With this Chapter I've added in a good team for James and a new Vers OC who may or may not live yeah? The next chapter will take place 2-3 months after this one and should be completed within Q1 of 2020. This one was made in the span of a fucking week and I think that's easily noticeable. 

This is the way the rest of the story will go just so everyone knows. It will be filled with dark humor and questionable decisions, i'm going to make it as close as possible to the "real thing," or as much as I can with my Military Experience. It should make you feel uncomfortable sometimes, assuming I can write it well enough. 

To those of you that enjoy my work thank you, I'll strive to bring you content on a more regular basis and do my best to make sure it doesn't seem rushed 

Your humble scribe,

ChappyJames


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